Customer Rating & Reviews

Excellent Camera!

July 10, 2014

I almost bought the A7 when this camera came out and decided to purchase it instead - has been a great decision (also saved a substantial sum of money.) I've loved photography for nearly 50 years and the advances that have been made are truly astounding. This camera will do far more than most people really need, and takes pictures that are far superior to even the best fixed lens camera (the exception being the RX1 perhaps.) What you get for the price is amazing. For the average advanced amateur/semi-pro like myself, the A6000 will do everything you need and far more, and you'll want to take it everywhere. You can pull it out when you first get it and start shooting immediately (provided you purchase it with a lens - I bought the 16-50 and 55-200,) and the photos are great, even when enlarged far beyond the old 8"x10" size. If you have any legacy glass (which I have a lot of,) simply buy an adapter and start shooting. It is exciting to finally find a camera that has so fully engaged my love for photography again. I continue to learn and use features that are really helpful in my quest to make better photographs. If you want to take some great photos, and have a load of fun doing it, I seriously doubt you would ever regret this purchase. Oh, and the video.... simply amazing!

The best camera value under $1500

April 26, 2014

So pretty much this camera beats out anything that I've had my hands on in it's price segment. I've had hands on the nikon 5300, 7000, 7100, canon t5i, 70d and to be perfectly honest this would be the camera I would pick up until the point we start talking sony a7. The controls on this camera are very intuitive and are actually explanatory. The noise level is also very low even at iso 1600. This camera literally has the fastest and best tracking autofocus that you can find in it's segment, with the speed coming in at 0.06 seconds in ideal conditions. Most potential customers will look at this review and think a Sony?!?! Truth be told Sony makes the sensor for most of the great Nikons. There have been rants and raves over this camera for months now and After receiving mine i know exactly why.
Summary in comparison to standard DSLR.
- There's no sacrifice in image quality
- It's considerably smaller and lighter so that alone makes it better by the fact that the best camera to have is the one you take with you.
- lens library has something for everyone at this point and sony makes an a mount adapter allowing use with older sony dlsr lenses.
-11 frame per second burst shots, but the camera can actually refocus itself in between those shots.
-Less moving parts than a DSLR (so less to break).
Recommended first after market lens.
sel50f18-great for family, portraits, and general use.
Make sure you get a fast sd card if you plan to use the burst alot..

Perfect for its price and for my needs

June 19, 2014

I'm an amateur photographer having toyed around with film cameras of old, point and shot cameras as well as other digital models. I bought the A6000 as an upgrade of my old DSC-H50. The H50 was my work horse which I use for producing portrait graphics, product shots for my business and occasional social events. It did what it supposed to do but, not everything. I evaluated different models and based on the following criteria:
1. Price and Quality
2. Usability
3. Size and Ergonomics
4. Features
5. Lenses
6. APS-C
7. Speed (Shooting and Over-all responsiveness
8. Point and Shoot Feature
I narrowed my options to pro-sumer brands from Nikon, Canon, and Sony (A7) and either a full frame or an APS-C system.
1. Price:
The price of the APS-C with its pro features was really hard to ignore compared to full frame professional systems. Check out the prices online and you'll see what i mean.
Quality
a. The body is plastic but as long as it is hard resin plastic which is strong and light, I'm happy with the weight.
b. I believe the plastic door for the HDMI and Multi-USB ports may break if not handle properly, so handle with care.
c. The reticulated flash is kinda fragile, so handle with care. Be sure to store it when moving around and deploy it only when needed.
d. The buttons and rotating rings and knobs are firm and not too soft. It prevents accidental changing of settings.
e. The flash died after 1.5 weeks of extensive use. Since I was a Best Buy rewards member (now an Elite Plus member) my unit was replaced with a brand new one without too much brohaha. That's what I call customer service. I bought the unit in store and I may have gotten a lemon, because they told me that this is the 1st time they had a defective flash unit problem. The rest of the camera features still worked in spite of the flash being broken. My advise is, when you buy any electronic unit, test it extensively in the 1st few days so that you'll be able to find out if it has defects.
2. Usability
a. The EVF, though lower in resolution quality than its predecessors and other competing brands, is just perfect. It's an EVF, period. There is no noticeable lag when panning and the area coverage is perfect for me. The sensor that activates it is too sensitive. The EVF sensor (when turned ON) should detect objects within 10 cm, NOT 30cm which can be annoying especially if you're using the reticulated display. Not a deal breaker, but a room for improvement which can be fixed (hopefully) by firmware upgrades. The controls are easy to understand.
b. The Flash
It's a good fill flash that's also effective within around 6 feet. Increasing the compensation to +3 would likely extend it to around 15'. But the good quality even on high ISO settings makes the size and power of the flash just enough. It's not there to replace professional flash capabilities, it's there if you need a flash.
The reticulation allows you to bounce the flash if you need to bounce it. This simple capability can greatly improve the quality of your shots if you know how to use it. It takes getting used to propping one finger to push the reticulating flash to point upward.
Adjust the flash compensation for longer reach. It's more than enough for my needs. Night shots are a challenge to shoot, but the pro-features of the A6000 (exposure compensation, ISO setting, HDR setting, HDO settings) makes it easier to adjust the quality of the night shots. Learn the features of the camera and you would have a host of solutions to address lighting problems. Forget post processing, learn how to use the features I mentioned and you'll get good quality nights shots.
c. The 16-50mm PZ F3.5 kit lens.
Adequate for my use. at 16mm, I can take selfies with a good coverage of the background or landscape. Quality is good under average lighting conditions. It's a good carry around lens and for tackling close quarter situations. The 16mm is good for landscape. I cant complain really. The 50mm is good for portrait and bokeh shots . Not as great as the dedicated SEL 50mm F1.8 but acceptable.
d. Using a SEL 50mm F1.8
I bought a dedicated 50mm lens (in FF specs) it gives me an equivalent 75mm characteristic. Very good quality for regular portraits with soft bokeh shots. Low light shots are well rendered.
3. Size and Ergonomics
The size is not pocketable on regular jeans, denims or shirts, but the 16-50mm combo will allow you to pocket it on a regular size coat pocket.
It's comfortable to hold for my hand size. My hands are slender and small (not short and stubby!) The right hand grip is enough for a steady and secure grip. Not to big and not to small for me. Maybe too small for those with large gigantic hands. I suggest you try it "for comfort"
4. Features
Everything I need is in there:
Bokeh, great night shots, Fast moving shots, SLow Sync, Rear Sync, Interchangeable lens, buttons that I can program, video, fast focus using Phase Detection. Every professional feature that I may need is in there i think.
5. The love it or hate it e-mount lenses
Either you'll love it or hate it. The availability is becoming better compared to 2 years ago. But how many do you really need? It depends on how you wanna use your camera. In my case, high quality product shots and occasional landscapes for use in websites requires some average quality prime lens in 16mm and 50mm. A good set of studio equipment either DIY or commercially available equipment are needed for product shots.
6. APS-C or Full Frame formats
It used to be an issue for me. For the same distance away from your subject and using the same lens with the same focal length, the full frame system will capture more area of the picture versus the APS-C system. I learned to live with the limitations which I believe can be solved by buying the right lenses and positioning yourself at the right distance. The Sony A7 or A7R was being considered but the price of the A6000 APS-C system is worth considering, at least in my case it was a primary consideration. I'm no pro, but it does what I need to do and it does it pretty well in my opinion. if you have the cash, get the FF system, but consider this, Whatever you can do in the FF, you can do in the APS-C albeit using a different solution.
7. Speed
Capturing moving objects requires some fiddling and common sense. With the A6000 the PDAF feature and high Frames Per Second, Shooting moving objects with less distortion and blurriness is so much easier. Over-all responsiveness of the system is okay. Minimal lag, cycling time of the flash is quite flash.
8. Point and Shoot feature
I also bought the camera with my wife in mind. She may need the camera for hobby purposes, hence the capability to operate the camera with user friendly settings comparable to a point and shoot camera should be supported. The smart controls makes the configuration much easier. Dial the config to Intelligent Auto or super intelligent Auto and you're good to go. Bokeh is also easy to set-up with some fiddling, almost anybody can take great shots!
My conclusion
For an amateur like me who likes to produce my own materials for my websites, the A6000 + my skills can do the job. For a price that is a fraction of high end cameras, it's a no brainer. My next investment is on some accessories , but I'm still trying to observe what lenses I need and the accessories I need to buy. The investment on lenses has to wait though. I will have to comb through my shots to see which focal lengths I use extensively before buying a new lens system. Do i need a new flash systems, I'm not yet sure. DIY lighting systems maybe the way to go for me as commercial lighting systems are just bulky for me. We'll see.
I'll be buying more accessories as I deem it fit. It's easy to fall prey to blogs and reviews where you need to buy this and that because they say you need it. Reality dictates, based on what I have observed with other enthusiasts, pros and amateurs alike, it all boils down on how you want to use your camera. Observe what you need using the 16-50mm lens. Use it extensively. Move around. A picture is not just about the clarity or the color correctness of the image. In general, majority of the viewers of your photos will observe the composition of the photo. Practice proper composition before you invest on high quality expensive units. It takes time, research and a lot of shooting. It's not the camera, it's the person behind the camera that takes beautiful and impressive photos. invest in tutorials and shoot a lot. Practice composition. The A6000 has everything you'll probably need to make professional looking photos.
Photography can become a lifestyle and you can be drawn to spend a serious amount of money and I suggest you avail on reward systems that help you earn points which you can use to earn and purchase points or get discounts. For me Best Buy Rewards has helped me a lot. pick one that's best for you. Being a Best Buy rewards member helped me earn points and get perks that I can used to buy more accessories at discounted prices, and I get 45 days return policy instead of the usual 15 days. I can test accessories and I can return it if it doesn't suit my requirements.

Great Camera

August 9, 2014

I had been looking for a small and lightweight mirror less camera for several months. I wanted a camera with near DSLR image quality, the ability to interchange lenses ,to shoot in a RAW format, and to manually control the settings when I desired to do so. After looking at several models in stores, and reading many reviews, I chose the Sony α6000 kit with the 16-50mm zoom lens. I have used the camera for three months and so far, I have been satisfied with my decision. The image quality is very good even with the low end lens. One drawback is that the image stabilization is built into the lens and not the camera, so the choice of lenses that fully function with the camera is limited. I am still deciding on which additional lenses I need. Sometime soon I will purchase a prime and a better zoom lens. I purchased an inexpensive adapter to use an old Rokor prime lens and Vivitar zoom lens that I used on an old 35mm film camera, but the results have been less than desired. Obviously, there is no image stabilization or auto focus capability, and the camera’s focus assist and auto exposure controls do not work with these lenses.
For someone considering this camera, I suggest reading as many reviews as possible to understand both the positive and negative aspects of this camera. For those who purchase this camera, I do have some suggestions.
First, if I had to do it over again, I would probably purchase only the camera body and a couple of better lenses that work with it. The kit 16-50mm zoom is adequate for beginnings and in ideal lighting conditions, but it does have some very noticable barrel and chromatic distortions at various ranges and exposures. Many of those can be corrected in photo editing programs. Sony offers a free program download to convert the .arw (Sony’s version of the RAW format) to jpeg or tiff files. This program works well when using a SONY lens, but the ability to control the image and lens settings is limited. I do not use, but understand that new Adobe products have a profile for this camera and lenses that do a nice job of correcting camera and lens distortions. I found a program named DxO Optics Pro that is much more complete than the free Sony program. In addition to offering many more settings for image quality, it allows corrections for non-Sony lenses used on the camera. If using this program, be sure to download and install the profiles for the camera and lenses that are being used with the camera.
My second tip is to purchase an external battery charger and spare battery. The battery life is good, but it takes several hours for the internal charger in the camera to fully charge the battery. The external battery charges the battery in less than half the time.
And thirdly, download the complete user manual from the Sony website. The small manual provided with the camera does not even cover all of the basic functions adequately.
I have used the smart phone Sony app to remotely control the camera and it works with some limitations. The latency in the video stream, zoom and focus controls, and activation commands is extreme. Quick moving scenes are gone long before they appear on the smart phone and then there is a delay when the capture image command is sent to the camera. Also, when using this control, only JPEG images can be captured in the camera. A full sized JPEG is stored in the camera and a reduced size version of that image is then sent to the smart phone. So, do not depend on this feature as a very useful remote control of the camera.
I have not used any other mirror less camera, so I cannot compare this model to other similar cameras. In most situations, the images α6000 rival those from a DSLR, and are much better than an advanced point and shoot type camera that I own. A full featured DSLR still offers better image quality and control in bad or low lighting situations, and a better choice of lenses. However, the trade off is that I now can travel and move around with a much lighter load of cameras, lenses, and accessories for shooting most of my travel pictures and know that the images will be very acceptable.

Incredible camera

October 24, 2014

I did a ton of research before buying this camera. I was thinking about the Nikon 5300 or a camera with a full sized sensor. I'm not a pro photographer, nor do I need to capture shots of animals in the wild. I mainly wanted something that would take great pictures of two very energetic, fast-moving kids. This does the trick. In low light or fast action situations this camera blows away my old Sony point and shoot camera. It also does great portraits with pretty incredible bokeh. I put it on burst mode, fast shutter speed, tilted the screen down, held it up and held down the button as my kids were whizzing by in a roller coaster. It captured about 20 perfectly focused, sharp images in about 2 seconds. It sounds like a machine gun firing, and I got several great pictures capturing some priceless facial expressions. This is a great camera, and with its size and weight I can definitely carry it around all day with no problems

Sony A6000 is Small but Powerful

April 27, 2015

With the myriad of brands and models currently available to consumers, it is very hard to know WHAT to choose as being the right one to meet your needs, desires, and pocket book effect.
Sony produced this A6000 in 2014 as a follow-on to its 3000/5000 Series of Mirrorless Cameras. Probably the two most important aspects are: (1) The A6000 utilizes a genuine APS-C Sensor which the same type used in DSLR, and DSLT (Alpha) higher end products. In simpler terms for those that may be less familiar with that meaning - this ensures that you will have a SENSOR that is just slightly smaller in physical, and Megapixel capacity for capturing nearly every type of photo/shot condition/movie you would ever come across. (2) It ability to Fast Focus via some 179 Auto-sensed points means that whether it is a Wildlife critter making a jump, or taking off, or your child's first hit at the plate - this unit will capture it quickly and clearly. There are hosts of capabilities you can, or have already read about its features and benefits. This review is NOT intended to repeat all those aspects.
This review is a personal opinion from someone who uses this product, owns lots of camera brands, models, and types -not a Professional Photographer- but an enthusiast level hobby photographer. The Sony A6000 is a small, powerful, and very capable Mirrorless camera that equals or surpasses many of the DSLR/DSLT Bridge Type cameras. Bridge Type: A term coined within the industries guru's that means a camera product that is in between a Professional Grade, and just a common Consumer Grade camera.
With the Optional Lenses for the E-Mount class of camera's - such as the 50-210 Lens: You can have the ability to zoom out for that tight shot, or select a Lens for close in Macro type shooting. Even more Lens products are coming out for these E-Mount type Cameras.
The only negative input here has to do with Sony's chosen method of providing the User/Owner with detailed usage manuals (300+pgs.). Their detailed User Manuals are via Sony's On-Line accessing, which can be downloaded - but utilize "Cascading Sheets" methodology versus straight PDF, or what we are all accustomed to as common Book Type formatting, such as: Accessing a Table Of Contents, correlate to a Page Number, etc. You can not hard copy PRINT - for placing into a binder or such - with a continuous printing from Page 1, to Page xx, the way we can typically print things. Actual Page Number jumps around, and is SUBJECT Driven vs. Page Driven.
The Camera Product itself, and all the things you can do with it ARE a hit. The Sony A6000 is a big leader in this type of product.
+

Hi BillsCameraInputs, this is really great to hear. Thank you for sharing your experience with youur new Alpha camera. We really appreciate it. Regarding your concern with manual, we will forward your information to the proper department. Thank you for your feedback. - Vincent

Save money do it yourself!

June 2, 2016

I was going to pay a photographer $300 to just come to our house and take pics of our boys, so instead I invested in purchasing this camera and I do not regret it. I've been complimented quite a bit on how great the pics I post of our boys come out. Check them out yourself.

First and Best Compact System Camera

May 9, 2014

This camera is a great piece of equipment. I almost purchased the NEX-6 and saw that this came to my Best Buy store when I decided to make my purchase. It's essentially the same camera as the NEX-6 just with bigger specs. Lots of accessories to choose from and the camera itself is very easy to handle, even with bigger lenses on it. I purchased the bundle with the 50-210mm lens and cannot complain. I'm very happy with my purchase and looking forward to using this camera often.

Poor Sony Support

March 13, 2015

I purchased my A6000 with kit lens in August 2014. This was going to be my back up camera for when I didn't want to carry my Nikon DSLR. The camera suddenly stopped working while using it saying "Camera cannot recognize lens." I did an internet search for this issue to find out it's quite common and Sony even has a lens firmware update for this issue. After installing the update the problem still existed. I contacted Sony Support being within the 1 year warranty and was instructed to send my entire camera to Precision Camera.
After sending it in I was then informed by Precision Camera that my warranty was voided due to external damage. I asked for picture of the external damage knowing the camera was in great working shape beside the lens issue and was emailed a picture of the USB charging port with a pointer towards the charging port and it said "External Force Damage."
I then asked for a quote to repair the external force damage they indicated and lens, but was told I only need to pay to replace the kit lens, the charging port worked fine. At this point I contacted Sony to protest the voided warranty because if the charging port works fine and according to Precision Camera doesn't actually need fixed why would my warranty be voided? Precision Camera received my camera on January 29th, it's now March 13th and I'm still waiting for Sony to make this right with no end in sight. After hours spent on the phone with Sony no one has specifically looked into the issue or offered to help explain the reason of the voided warranty. Precision camera still has my broken camera.
I cannot believe a company as big as Sony is running me around like this. I made the mistake of buying a Sony camera and now know that I will never buy a Sony product again. Very disappointed.

Hi travis9, we're sorry for what happened here. Please send us a message at socialsupport@am.sony.com with details of your experience, your name and contact information so we can assist you with this. Thanks_Mitch

Absolutely stunning photos!

September 30, 2016

This camera blew me away. Let me start by saying I'm a professional wedding and portrait photographer and all of my equipment is Canon. I still love all of that gear, but there's a time a place for it, and my trip to Greece was not that time or place. While I was traveling, I wanted to feel light and free -- I didn't want to be weighed down with heavy lenses and a big camera body. But, I still wanted to come home with stunning photos that captured the experience. I tested this camera for a weekend before I left, and felt confident that it'd do a good enough job. It surpassed all of my expectations! I kept this gem on the auto setting with the kit lens on 80% of the time (I know, I know -- really professional right? Hey, I was on vacation!) and I couldn't believe how amazingly accurate the exposure was every. single. time. This thing knows if you're shooting a landscape, people, action, whatever it is, and it picks out the best settings for it. The handful of times I wanted to shoot at night, or get more creative with what I wanted, I'd just switch it over to manual and get what I needed. And the sharpness! So, so sharp. I'm a pixel-peeper and I have no complaints. Also, the auto-focus is lightning fast, and the focal points were almost always spot-on. The viewfinder is another plus, not only because it helps take better photos, but it allows you to turn the LCD screen off, saving battery life. I've been raving about this camera to anyone that'll listen. For travel, landscape, everyday photos at home, you can't beat this camera. If you're on the fence, just go for it. You won't be disappointed!

Overall great compact camera with great resolution

October 11, 2014

The camera is great, image quality is great. Good quality images in low light situations without using a flash. Nice compact size. The thing that is bad with this camera is its WiFi. You can read other articles about it online, to be brief, it is nearly impossible to set it up with a Windows PC. All the online recommendation did not work. Tried it on 2 different PC's. You can only access your images if the cable is connected. The SONY website was of no help in debugging the issue. Another minor issue is the Battery life is short. One day I found the battery dead after about 125 shots. The panoramic images come out great when the feature works. I often get a warning from the camera that I moved the camera too fast, even if I move it extremely slow. All the issues I mentioned I consider minor. The image quality is really great and it is a fun camera to use. I found the menu and settings easy to get use to. I did a few night shots and was actually surprised at how well the images came out. Attached is a photo taken at night with no flash in a pumpkin patch. The only lighting was from street lights in the distance.

Good light-weight walk-around and travel camera

July 30, 2014

I shoot mostly in raw, but found the jpg images from this camera were usually better, cleaner images. The new ligthroom 5.4 improved the raw results, but jpgs still tended to look better, DxO also released a A6000 update about the same time which helped the raw image results. So be sure to use the latest software for editing.
Overall I found this a very comfortable camera to carry and shoot. However, I did not care for the menu driven functionality. I am use to more direct button control on my Canon cameras, but I expect you could remap some of the controls to get more direct control of critical functions. I was using a Tamron 18-200 lens most of the time, which seemed slow to focus, but was usually accurate even in low-light. It proved a good universal lens for most subjects. It did not seem to track fast moving objects like birds well, but did follow people and vehicles. In summary, I liked most of the the camera qualities, but not the excessive menu orientation. It would be great for hikers and climbers with a prime or wide-angle zoom attached. I didn't care much for the Sony 55-200 results on my A6000 body. The 16-50 gave very good results for a kit lens. An increased range of lens from Sony would also, help although you can get a converter to use other lens brands.

I am SO disappointed in this camera.

September 20, 2015

I am about to have a serious whine fest. Don't read it if you have a solution. I had one of the first generations of this camera and loved it. I. Considered it the best camera ever - never an issue, GREAT photos and easy to use and understand. It finally wore out and it was the easiest decision to make buying a newer version.
Either I got a lemon or they've made them much less durable. I bought this camera a year ago August and it's been in the shop at least 3 times, possibly 4. It will not hold a charge, even with a super dooper, long life battery; the screen used to just go black, but they finally fixed that issue. However I spent most of this last summer without my camera. This did NOT make me happy, as I carry my camera with me everywhere. NOW, I'm in Alaska, on the trip of a lifetime and I can only take one hours worth of photos before the battery runs out. My old camera would last at least two days before I had to charge it. Being in a remote area, hiking and such, there is NO PLACE to charge up. I have missed so many of the iconic photos, much less the documentation of my amazing family in a skiff - catching crabs and shrimp, the mountain peaks, the rivers, the trees turning colors, the fish swimming upstream, the whales........how do I explain my trip to my mother? I would think that after this many times of trying to get my camera fixed - and it's never worked the whole time I've had it, that Either Sony or Best Buy would want to replace it. I'm so disappointed in the manner in which these two companies don't really back up their products. And I'm extremely disappointed in the camera itself. When I get home this week, I am going to go shopping, but you can bet it won't be a Sony camera and it won't be at Best Buy.

Defective

May 29, 2015

Doesnt recognize any lens and tells me a lens is not attached. Owned this less than 30 days. Intermittent fault. Called Sony and they said they never heard of this problem. Google alpha 2000 lens not attached and see how many hits you get. Liars denying the problem

Great Picture, Easy to Use and Great Quality

May 9, 2016

The Sony A6000 is everything I could have wanted in a camera as an amateur photographer. The camera takes fantastic quality of pictures, gives the user as much or little control as they want, and is a very sturdy and strong quality of camera that can hold up to the abuse of moving to get the right photos. Here are some of my main points from my use with the camera the last 2 months.
Price
Obviously everyone is interested in the price of the product. I believe this camera is prices well for the amount of product you are getting. Because it is a mirrorless camera, it can take pictures at a quality of a $1000+ DLSR for a lower price. I Picked up this camera at Best Buy for $700 and did fork over the $180 for 3 years of Geek Squad to go with it. Even though $880 is still a good chunk of money I have found the camera to be well worth it.
Ease of Use
The Sony A6000 setting will let more professional users have complete control of all settings, or will let the newest amateur have almost no control and auto all settings for still a very great picture. I usually have the camera in full auto mode. The only times I have placed the camera in any of the manual modes is for nighttime skyline and drag racing photos.
Picture Quality
This camera has a 24.3 megapixels and the pictures are great. As long as I haven’t screwed things up from a camera control perspective, the photons always come out fantastic. Obviously, post editing photos is something that any realistic photographer will do, but because the photos are so great coming out of the camera, there is usually very little for me to do. For examples of photos that I have taken, please see my online portfolio: SSH-Photography.com
Cons
Very few cons with this camera. But here are 2 that I have found while using the Sony A6000.
- Continuous shooting speed. On this camera, for sports photos or fast moving nature photos, a fast shooting speed is necessary to get the shot you want. Some more high end cameras and DSLRs will allow you to actually choose the number of photos per second. This camera will allow you to choose from low, medium or high shooting speed. The shooting speed of high is pretty fast, but what I noticed while at the drag racing track here in town is that even when shooting at a high speed with picture settings to JPEG the camera was just barely slower than I would have wanted. Now, please note that the cars I was shooting were traveling at 250+ MPH and I was standing about 20 feet away, so the kind of photos I was getting were at the extreme end of sports shooting.
- Hot Shoe. The hot shoe on the top of the camera works with almost all accessories, but for some reason some of those accessories do not lock in securely completely all the time. If you notice the camera you will see the hot shoe is black compared to a Nikon or Cannon hot shoe. Part of me wonders that in an effort to keep the camera esthetically pleasing SONY painted the hot shoe in a way that makes it difficult for accessories to lock in completely sometimes. It has never been a major issue, but just something I noticed that I wish was just one more step towards perfect.
Recommendation
I would recommend this camera to any other individual who wanted to get into amateur photography that wanted a good quality camera for a price that is less than $1000. As I learn more about taking photos and how to become a better photographer this camera allows me to take those next steps. This camera is better than I could have imagined at first and only wish I had gotten started on this hobby a lot sooner. Once again, if you would like to see some examples of photos that I have taken please visit my online portfolio: SSH-Photography.com

Very capable, quality camera

June 12, 2015

I chose this because of these practical features: It has Phase-detect auto focus which enables much quicker focus than contrast detect-only cameras; it has a PASM exposure mode dial which provides the best user control over any other control layout; a peer-through electronic viewfinder in addition to the rear display; and it has a relatively large sized APS-C image sensor that can produce clean photos with fine detail and good dynamic range.
In using it, the main menu layout seems sensible enough, and the FN button on the back thankfully provides an easy path to a bunch of settings that you will often change. The AEL button under your right thumb can be reprogramed so I changed it to activate auto-focus instead of having the default shutter button half-press do that. This generally gives you better control over exactly when the camera focuses which makes it easier to recompose your shots.
One gripe is that my fingers want more tactile, mechanical feedback from the push buttons on the back. They all feel very delicate and mushy compared to my DSLRs. The exception is the generously sized Okay button which is easy to find.
It should come with a battery charger. A charge lasts about an hour and a half in continuous use so get more batteries. And buy the separate charger which isn't included with the camera. Without it you have to plug the camera into an outlet and wait several hours. Silly.
The economical and very compact 16-50mm kit lens is nice for daylight shooting. An absolute must-have if you're not prepared to spend lots more money on a more sophisticated option. But at f/5.6 at its longest focal length I really need it to be brighter. Still, glad I bought it with the camera. The longer focal length Sony 55-210mm zoom lens seems outstanding to me and I've made some beautiful pictures with it.
I use DSLRs professionally but wanted to have a quality mirror-less compact for certain situations. The Sony a6000 has the main features I need and its wealth of control settings makes it very versatile. I'm using it mainly for still photography but find that it does video better than an SLR. During video shooting it auto focuses better and also utilizes anti-shake (Sony's Steady Shot) nicely. It's a good camera and I've made some great looking pictures with it in the short time I've owned it so far. Extremely good value and price in my opinion.

BEST For the price

December 6, 2014

I had purchased the t5i after hearing canon is the best... Lets just say the camera as in t5i is outdated... I returned the product after seeing the a6000 gives better quality of pictures and video in low light... If you are looking at the t5i 60 or 70d or 5300 or 7000 7100 do your research this product is not only better in price but newer and lighter and gives you a easy menu and very good or even better pictures... Love this camera...

This is an awesome camera!

November 21, 2014

I started out with a 35mm Minolta SRT-101 in 1978. I still have it, but it is a film camera, and digital is so much more fun . Sony bought their camera division and although I have occasionally tried other brands, they always go back to the store because they are a disappointment. I only buy Sony cameras now. I have the RX100, an NEX-5R, and now this Alpha 6000. I travel and the smaller size format is more portable for me. I gave my full frame Sony to my daughter. ( That one is a great camera but too heavy for a disabled senior photo enthusiast. )

Light and Fast

October 23, 2014

My criteria for a new walk around camera were:
1) Light weight
2) Little or no sacrifice in quality from my D600
3) Interchangeable lenses
4) Fast focus and shutter response
This camera meets all my needs and has surprised me with it's capabilities. It is not without it's challenges, but no camera is. It will take some practice to get the best results out of the camera, especially with the kit lens. The 16-50 lens is not the highest quality, but is decent in good light. I would highly recommend adding good lenses to your kit. The high speed focus is accurate in good light with median aperture, but with high speed lenses at large apertures, I found it best to use spot focus and re-frame. I highly recommend this camera. Get the 35 and 50mm fixed focal length lenses.They are very sharp.